HP trying to mend ties with Apple customers while demoing new gear at Macworld

"What's your impression of the relationship between HP and Apple?" the Hewlett-Packard representative asked. "Because I'll bet you it's probably five years out of date."

Frankly, I hadn't given the issue enough though to have a formal "impression." The attendant at HP's Macworld/iWorld booth could tell I was grasping for an answer, and he threw me a line.

"Maybe, incompatibility? Difficult to set up?"

I searched my memory. Yes, those seemed like terms that could describe my impression ? had I any ? of the interplay between HP's offerings and Apple's. I nodded. Yes. Difficult to set up. Yes. Incompatible. Those two would do. I nodded again.

"Well," he smiled, satisfied and slipping into a well-worn groove, "let me show you how those are out of date."

About three-quarters of HP's booth at Macworld is devoted to the company's printers. This year, the tech giant is touting its compatibility above almost all else, showing how easy it is to print and share content from Macs and iOS devices to HP printers.

The attendant went on to show me HP's consumer range of printers first. There was the Officejet 150 Mobile All-in-One ($310, Amazon), a sleek printer-scanner-copier unit he said "could fit in your backpack." It does in fact look like it could, though I'm still struggling to think of a situation in which I'd want to pack a printer into my messenger bag.

He moved on to a more tactile demonstration, pouring a cup of water onto a sheet he'd printed, then rubbing the sheet on his head.Among the enterprise units, he showed me the OfficeJet Pro x576dw MFP, a touchscreen-enabled multifunction unit that that uses HP's PageWide technology. HP's printer tech pushes content to the page with only the page moving, not the writing engine assembly. The attendant attempted to explain how this results in faster, higher quality images. I explained that anything beyond a dot-matrix is, to me, an unknowable cauldron of sorcery. He pressed a few buttons and the x576dw MFP began spitting out high-quality prints at a rate of 70 pages per minute. I understood a bit better.

He was showing off the quality of the pigment printing method HP is moving to in its higher-end printers. As he had predicted, the pigment did not run, fade, or smear. It left not a mark on his fingers or his silvery mane. In truth, it was an effective demonstration, despite the undertones of informercial salesman.

All of these," he said, "you can connect quickly and easily to a Mac as you would a PC. Or to an iOS device. They do wireless printing; they do Bluetooth printing.He finished up the tour at HP's Live Photo demo stand. Live Photo, he informs me, is "one of our branded apps: we've got about 38 in the App Store, and this is one of our newest. One that we're really proud of."

Upon seeing it in action, I can see why.

Essentially, a user records a video on their iPhone using the app. They can then send that video to any number of recipients in a variety of ways: through Facebook, through email, or with a postcard. That last one isn't a typo: The app allows you to design and print physical post cards with a trigger picture for the video. When a friend that also has the app gets that image into his viewfinder, the app recognizes the trigger picture and begins playing the video that goes along with it.

Not exactly groundshaking, but kind of cool to watch a few times in person. Seeing it action, one could imagine it being implemented here and there in advertising, though it requires having the app HP built.

The demo video they had prepared was of one of the attendants' little white terrier. The preview picture showed the pup caught mid-howl as an ambulance passed. When he got the picture into the app's viewfinder, the terrier sprang to life, howling at the siren and then looking back to the camera, a bit mournful. The video looped again and again.

And then the booth tour was done. HP's hit a bit of a rough patch with the rise of iOS and Android, as well as some difficulties in the printer sector. Their booth team, though, showed no signs of that, all smiles and happy how-do-you-dos and wet printouts rubbed on heads. And howling white terriers, mournful and endlessly looping.

"So, did I change your mind about HP and Apple?" he asked, apparently having forgotten that I'd been of no particular mind on HP and Apple. I figured I'd avoid another awkward exchange.

"Indeed," I said, fudging that first part. "You guys have got some impressive stuff," I continued, completely honest on the latter.

Comments

As he had predicted, the pigment did not run, fade, or smear. It left not a mark on his fingers or his silvery mane.

This is getting a little too creepily poetic for my taste. At least in the context of being a report about technology. I mean, I like it and it's funny, but then you step back and realize what's being said and where it's being said…

Anyway, if HP is really serious about improving the quality of their products up from "total garbage", that's fine by me. Though I don't know how much more printing I'll be doing in my life. Also…

Looks like HP is sending their newer latex inks into the (pro)consumer market. They've been pushing them to the commercial large-format trade for awhile now. At first I figured it might be their mild solvent/eco-solvent inks but I'd have a hard time believing those would be considered "safe" for a typical household.

Considering how quickly they adopted AirPrint and the range of devices the offer AirPrint on I would have said their relationship was good.

I've found the pro-consumer HP printers to be very cheaply made. I bought an HP color laser recently and it was crap so I returned it. Instead I bought a Samsung 670 and I like it very much. It is really well made and the quality is excellent.

There was an AirPrint hack that I tried out on my Mac Pro printing to an Epson printer which worked, but I haven't had the need to use it since the original test. I'm not sure if it still works with Lion or Mountain Lion.

I have never had any trouble with HP printers on my Macs. Well, I've had a total of two of them. I know that doesn't sound like a lot, but that's because the first lasted eight years. The second one is still running strong. I average about 1,000 prints/month. No problem with durability. No problem with connecting.

How about really revolutionizing things by creating a printer which doesn't suck ink like a crack whore?

This wouldn't be too bad (I don't use inkjets anymore because of this crap, and I don't imagine I'll ever go back) if the ink wasn't $16,000 a gallon. If they cut the price, fewer people would complain.

This wouldn't be too bad (I don't use inkjets anymore because of this crap, and I don't imagine I'll ever go back) if the ink wasn't $16,000 a gallon. If they cut the price, fewer people would complain.

I bought a Colour LaserJet multifunction printer / scanner in April 2011. Within a year there was an OS X update from Apple and the scanner stopped working. No problem, HP will just update their driver a short while later.

Except they didn't.

I then had a year old device that was incapable of being used for the purposes for which I bought it (I'm self employed, I need to keep scanned copies of expenses records for tax purposes).

A year later, they STILL haven't updated the scanner part of their driver. And they apparently aren't going to. A year old device should still be under full driver support by the manufacturer. But they couldn't damn well be bothered. I had to buy a new multifunction printer. Total waste of money.

If that's the way HP treats people who only recently buy their products, then they can kiss goodbye to any hope of any more money from me. EVER.

I then had a year old device that was incapable of being used for the purposes for which I bought it (I'm self employed, I need to keep scanned copies of expenses records for tax purposes).

A year later, they STILL haven't updated the scanner part of their driver. And they apparently aren't going to. A year old device should still be under full driver support by the manufacturer. But they couldn't damn well be bothered. I had to buy a new multifunction printer. Total waste of money.

If that's the way HP treats people who only recently buy their products, then they can kiss goodbye to any hope of any more money from me. EVER.

What about OS X's scanner function? Does it just not show up when you have it plugged in?

I have a Brother inkjet/fax/scanner/printer now. I only use the HP for printing (because lasers are cheaper to run). What ****es me off most is that there's now a desk dedicated to these things and office space also costs money!

I've genuinely considered legal action to recoup my losses. The law on this sort of thing in the UK is reasonably clear: goods should be as described and fit for the purpose. If they're not supported in an envionment where a computer's operating system is likely to be upgraded within a year of purchase, they cannot be said to be fit for purpose.

Really? I have used an OfficeJet pro on the Macs in my household for several years now and I have been delighted as to how well it integrates with OSX (currently running mountain lion). Didn't have to load a driver - it just found it and and installed it.

Now I find some of the plastic tray parts a little annoying sometimes, but overall it works really well without having to do a darn thing to it.

A buddy bought the same printer that I have and had difficulty setting it up so I went over his place to help him with it. He was running Vista. Had to install software off CD that came with it, which has crapware on it.

It seemed to me that the integration with Apple computers was much better than with the Windows machines.

Don't know about the el cheapo HP printers, but the OfficeJet series is really quite good.

It's the scanning bit that's gone, never to return. HP openly display that they are not upgrading that part of the driver on every driver upgrade they release for OS X. It's not Apple's fault. It's HP who can't be bothered to support products that are still well within their expected and realistic - and legal! - lifespan.